Audio Playlist Creation System and Method

1. A system to automatically generate a list of desired songs comprising: a) a radio receiver adapted to receive a music signal and text data from a radio station, the text data relating to a song being played by the radio station over the music signal; b) a computer system; c) a portable memory device in data communication with the radio receiver at a first time and in data communication with the computer system at a second time; d) an add mechanism in signal communication with the radio receiver that can be activated by a user, upon activation the add mechanism causing the radio receiver to store the text data on the portable memory device at the first time; and e) software programming on the computer system that causes the computer system at the second time to i) extract the text data from the portable memory device, ii) identify the song by using the text data received from the portable memory device to examine a database of song information, and iii) using the song identification to download the song from an external source.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the music signal is a terrestrial digital signal defined by a standard found in the set including the DAB standard and the HD Radio standard.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the music signal is a satellite radio signal.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the music signal is an analog signal and the text data is formatted according to a format selected from the set comprising the Radio Data System and the Radio Broadcast Data System standards.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the text data includes the PI, PS, RT, and CT text fields.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the software programming identifies the song by comparing the text data with song and title information found in the database based in part by first determining the data format used by the radio station to format the text data.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the database is found external to the computer system, and further wherein the computer system has a network connection for communication with the database.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the software programming identifies the song by determining from the text data the radio station at the first time and comparing this information to a database identifying songs played by time and radio station.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the software programming further comprises programming that loads the identified song onto a portable music player.

10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising programming that adds the identified song to a playlist of a subscription music service and downloads the song from the remote music subscription service before storing the song onto the portable music player.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the portable memory device is a solid state memory device and further wherein the text data is stored on the solid state memory device in data records.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the portable memory device communicates with the radio receiver and the computer system through a wireless communication protocol.

13. A system to identify a song heard on a radio station comprising: a) radio receiver means for receiving a music radio signal and text data from the radio station; b) memory device means for storing the text data; c) triggering means for causing the radio receiver means to place the text data on the memory device means; d) a computer; e) programming means for programming the computer to identify the song using the text data placed on the memory device means to query a database of song information; and f) communication means for communicating the text data from the radio receiver means to the memory device means, and for communicating the text data from the memory device means to the computer.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising: g) additional programming means for programming the computer to download the song from a music service without additional activity by the user after the programming means identifies the song.

15. A method for identifying a song played on a radio station comprising: a) receiving at a radio receiver a radio signal containing a music signal and text data related to the song as it is being played on the radio station over the music signal; b) inserting a portable memory device into a slot on a front face of the radio receiver; c) identifying to the receiver a desire to identify the currently played song; d) storing on a portable memory device text data relating to the song; e) removing the portable memory device from the radio receiver; f) establishing a physical electrical connection between the portable memory device and a computer that does not contain the radio receiver; g) moving the text data from the portable memory device to the computer; and h) using the text data moved from the portable memory device to query a database of song information to identify the song by first identifying the format of the text data and then interpreting the text data according to the identified format.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the text data identifies the artist and song title, and the format of the text data changes depending upon the radio station that played the song.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the text data identifies the radio station and the time that the desire to identify was communicated to the receiver, and wherein the database contains a listing of songs played at the radio station by time.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the identification of the format of the text data is accomplished by identifying the transmitting radio station.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising i) using the computer to download the identified song without additional user interaction with the computer after the analyzing step.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein step i) further comprises downloading the song from an external source and loading the identified song onto a portable music player.